Shipping items in packages require that the shipped items be firmly secured within the shipping package so that the shipped items are protected. Paper, air bags, styrofoam, “peanuts,” “bubble wrap” or other suitable packing materials are used to surround the shipped item to provide protection from jarring motions, penetration by foreign objects, and to prevent movement of the item within the shipping package container during shipping. However, installing such packing material around the shipped item requires substantial time, cost, and effort. Furthermore, once used, the packing material often becomes environmentally unfriendly waste.
Another packaging system inserts one or more deflated void-fill bags in the shipping package. When the void-fill bags are filled with a gas or liquid, such as air, the void-fill bag is expanded to firmly secure the shipped item within the shipping package. However, void-fill bag-inflating machinery is very complex. One example of such a void-fill bag-inflating machine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,806 B1 to Sperry et al., entitled “INFLATABLE PACKING MATERIAL AND INFLATION SYSTEM,” which is incorporated herein in its entirety.